Comics Review: "Nightcrawler" #1
Mein Gott! I’m reviewing a Marvel comic! From the All-New Marvel Now NOW! It’s not one of all those relaunched #1s, carefully designed as jumping-off points for the constantly diminishing readership. It IS a #1, though - it’s the first issue in another attempt to have a Nightcrawler ongoing series! Let’s check it out.
Oh yeah, Wolverine’s healing factor kind of disappeared lately, and apparently that also makes him more easily-irritated and all. Don’t ask me how that works, because I don’t know. When Wolverine loses his adamantium he starts looking like a dog-ape, and when he loses his healing factor he apparently acts like he’s PMSing hard. He gets so mad with Nightcrawler during their sparing session that he pops his claws and seemingly wants to gut his best friend, though he starts bleeding profusely from the “claw canals” and that stops the Danger Room session. Apparently Wolverine’s “maturing” in recent years wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 
The only people Wolverine should be allowed to call "runt" are Puck, Artie & Leech.
Anyway, this just goes to show how things have changed when Nightcrawler was busy being dead. We’re also treated to a scene where he meets one of the students he remembers, and a whole bunch of new and weird ones. Then he catches up with Rachel AKA Phoenix II, his old teammate from Excalibur. They get to reminisce a little, while relaxing under some quality Art Adams and Alan Davis prints that Kurt apparently bought when he came back. 
Oh, it's actually Storm that got these.
This is all handled pretty nice, even if it’s nothing to really write home about. I think the good idea here is keeping the current continuity to the minimum, so mostly everything feels familiar, allowing Claremont to write about characters he knows, without having to reference stuff he had nothing to do with too much. In the long run (however long that may be), this may be a saving grace for this book. Even the most cynical readers (and you can’t blame anybody for being cynical about the Big Two in recent years) like and respect Claremont’s old work (I know I do, these were some of my first comics), so letting the man write what he knows and not trying to make him fit in with the current trends makes sense. Unfortunately, going back to what the writer knows, may also mean some bad things for this book. While Nightcrawler is cool and all, there are things about him that have been done to death. I hope you like Bamfs, those dumb little mini-me's of Nightcrawler, because they're back. I never liked them, but here they are. Nightcrawler even takes them for a reunion with his old girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, which is a little creepy. Do you like Amanda Sefton and her vague magic powers? Because she's pretty much been in every Nightcrawler story to date, and it's well-known and worn out territory. During their date, Amanda's apartment is stormed by a big robot dude, who wants to kill the pair. He of course manages to drop his name somewhere in his monologues, but I already forgot it. 
They quickly defeat the guy and Nightcrawler is ready to call the X-Men so they can investigate what was that all about. Amanda doesn't let him do that, as she thinks it's a family matter. So they plan to go to her mom, Margali, another character that's been rearing her ugly head much too often throughout Nightcrawler's history. So you see what I mean? While a Nightcrawler series is something that could work, and while having him step away from the X-Men for solo adventures is something I'd LIKE to see, those adventures so far seem to involve the same old same old that we've been reading about for years. Amanda and Margali, Nightcrawler's lame family that we know all too well. They've been featured in a previous Nightcrawler ongoing (probably more than one, actually) and that series tanked. So while having Kurt back is nice, it's a shame that he's only back to do the same things we already saw a million times before. Your mileage may vary, you may be the rare X-Men fan out there that's all like "Awww, f**k yeah! Margali Szardos! Marvel's 78th most interesting magic user is back!", I am far less enthusiastic about this turn of events. Frankly, my enthusiasm pretty much BAMFED away, leaving a stinking fart cloud behind, as soon as Amanda and Margali Szardos were mentioned. Todd Nauck's art is clean and simple, perfectly serviceable and at times reminding me of a Cockrum/Davis/Smith combo. The colors are bright and evoke that old "All-New X-Men" vibe. Claremont writes very much like he always used to, though he seems to be taking it easy on the exposition and all the "Unglaublich!", "Mein Gott!" and other things that would constantly remind us that Kurt is from Germany. This isn't a bad comic. It's very vanilla, though. Nightcrawler fans should be pleased, if their expectations were reasonable. Regular Marvel readers may find this a light, inoffensive and quite fun comic, as long as they don't mind revisiting things they should know by heart by now. Which camp do you fall into? Will you buy "Nightcrawler" #1? Are you happy that he's back? Are you one of Margali Szardos' legion of fans, already writing your hate mail? Leave us a comment! 
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